"The dramatist, valuing the integrity and organic nature of struggle, treats the audience with respect and genuinely explores something. You can tell because genuine drama moves toward an uncertain destination." —Michael Rabiger, Professor Emeritus, Columbia College Chicago In his book-length essay, "Three Uses of the Knife," David Mamet states, "It's not the dramatist's job to bring about social change." He goes on to write, "The purpose of art is not to change but delight. I don't think its purpose is to enlighten us. I don't think it's to change us. I don't think it's to teach us." Right or
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April 11, 2018 (Los Angeles, CA) - Today, the International Documentary Association announced the appointment of Leslie-Anne Faireshire, Chris Perez, and Brenda Robinson as new members of the Board of Directors. In addition, IDA Director of Filmmaker Services Amy Halpin has been appointed the Deputy Director of the organization. “We are thrilled to welcome Brenda, Leslie-Anne and Chris on to the IDA's Board of Directors,” said Simon Kilmurry, IDA’s Executive Director. “Each of them brings a wealth of experience and talent to IDA. They will be key allies and counselors to ensure that IDA's work
"I am a box on a shelf," says Ericka. And technically, she was right. Her name was written on a box containing the evidence from a violent sexual assault she reported well over a decade ago. Erika's box, along with thousands of other boxes containing untested rape kits, had been sequestered on a warehouse shelf undisturbed and left to wither and even expire without testing or prosecution—until Wayne County (Michigan) prosecutor Kym Worthy vowed to right this injustice. Now, after three years of filmmaking, this and other stories of sexual-assault survivors in other cities like Cleveland and
Screen Time is your curated weekly guide to excellent documentaries and nonfiction programs that you can watch at home. This week, we celebrate Kanopy's release of the Frederick Wiseman documentary collection: Central Park (1989) is a film about the famous New York City landmark and the variety of ways in which people make use of it: running, boating, walking, skating, music, theatre, sports, picnics, parades and concerts. The film also illustrates the complex problems the New York City Parks Department deals with in order to maintain and preserve the park and keep it open and accessible to
Essential Doc Reads is a weekly feature in which the IDA staff recommends recent pieces about the documentary form and its processes. Here we feature think pieces and important news items from around the Internet, and articles from the Documentary magazine archive. We hope you enjoy! At The Atlantic, Franklin Foer argues that the digital manipulation of video may make the current era of "fake news" seem quaint. The internet has always contained the seeds of postmodern hell. Mass manipulation, from clickbait to Russian bots to the addictive trickery that governs Facebook's News Feed, is the
One of the most surprising and uplifting docs I caught on the fest circuit last year, Stacey Tenenbaum's The Art of the Shine showcases shoeshiners from New York to Toronto, and from Tokyo to Sarajevo, where the profession is alternately an artisanal craft, a way to make a buck, a meditative art, a healing practice, and a means of connecting with one's fellow man. Documentary is thrilled to have had the opportunity to speak with one longtime practitioner of the shine, Kevin Tuohy, founder of A Shine & Co.—soon to be rebranded The Shoeshine Guild—whose master craftwork you can experience for
Screen Time is your curated weekly guide to excellent documentaries and nonfiction programs that you can watch at home. Premiering today, Monday, April 9 on Topic is Darius Clark Monroe's Black 14, a documentary short telling the story of what happened when a group of University of Wyoming football players decided to protest racial injustice in 1969. Premiering tonight on Smithsonian Channel is Waco: The Longest Siege. It began as a raid, turned into a 51-day standoff, and ended with the destruction of a five-story building and 75 people dead. The 1993 Waco siege of the compound belonging to
Essential Doc Reads is a weekly feature in which the IDA staff recommends recent pieces about the documentary form and its processes. Here we feature think pieces and important news items from around the Internet, and articles from the Documentary magazine archive. We hope you enjoy! At T he Washington Post, filmmaker Paul Stekler reflects on the real meaning of Martin Luther King Jr.'s Mountaintop speech. Most Americans are familiar with the last 60 seconds of the speech, with its famous declarations "I've been to the mountaintop" and "I've seen the promised land." But the full speech
In 1999, Bill Clinton was president. Tablets and smart phones had yet to be unleashed on the world, and streaming was in its nascent stages as a platform. That was also the year of the first Realscreen Summit. Three hundred people attended. Agents did not roam the halls. It cost about $500 to register. Washington, DC was just emerging as a major nonfiction center. Reality TV was about a year away from barnstorming the airwaves with Big Brother and Survivor. Amazon was still primarily known as an online bookseller, and Netflix was renting out DVDs by mail. And Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram and
Screen Time is your curated weekly guide to excellent documentaries and nonfiction programs that you can watch at home. Premiering tonight, Monday, April 2 on HBO is King in the Wilderness, which chronicles the final chapters of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s life, revealing a conflicted leader who faced an onslaught of criticism from both sides of the political spectrum. Premiering tonight on Independent Lens is Till Schauder's When God Sleeps, a rap-punk-rock documentary about Iranian musician Shahin Najafi, who is forced into hiding after hardline clerics issue a fatwa for his death, incensed